Eskape Getaway Cabin

Project Brief

The objective is to create an immersive experience in a housing unit for two individuals, where each sense is engaged, satisfied, and elevated through high-quality aesthetics and functionality. Both the interior and exterior, as well as the materials and intricate details, contribute to a heightened experience that exudes sophistication, practicality, and efficiency.

Secondary Research

Global Cabin Operators

Although the cabin concept is relatively new in India, there are already numerous players in this field worldwide. This section will examine several major cabin operators and their offerings, as well as explore how they strive to provide an enhanced experience of living in the wilderness. The following are among the significant cabin operators across the world:

Vipp Shelter
Monocabin
Getaway Cabin
Cabin.life
Unyoked
Slowcabins
72 Hours
Panorama Glass

Upon analyzing prominent cabin operators (Vipp Shelter, Monocabin, Getaway Cabin, Cabin.life, Unyoked, Slowcabins, 72 Hours, and Panorama Glass), the author compiled all the features of these cabins and conducted a comparison. These cabin features proved instrumental for the Eskape team during the initial conceptualization phase of the cabin.

Comparison of Cabin Features

Based on secondary research, it becomes evident that cabins generally require certain essential features, while others are considered beneficial to include. The author collected information on cabin offerings and features by examining some of the best cabins worldwide. This secondary research highlights the diverse functional aspects essential for cabins. While different operators may incorporate varying functions, the primary objective remains to enhance user experience. This research significantly aided in comprehending the functional aspects essential for any cabin design. These cabin features proved invaluable to the Eskape team during the initial conceptualization phase of the cabin.

Primary Research and Business Offerings

Eskape Value Proposition Design

The heart of Value Proposition Design is about applying Tools to the messy Search for value propositions that customers want and then keeping them aligned with what customers want in Post search.

Value Proposition Design shows us how to use the Value Proposition Canvas to Design and Test great value propositions in an iterative search for customers’ wants. Value proposition design is a never-ending process in which we need to Evolve our value proposition(s) constantly to keep it relevant to customers.

In this section, we explored the diverse elements comprising Eskape's value proposition, including user study, persona mapping, customer journey mapping, customer profile, the concept of Jobs To Be Done (JTBD), value map, Fit, add-libs, business model canvas, and the business environment.

User Study
Customer Profile
Value Map
Fit
Business Model Canvas
Business Model Environment

User study:

Customer Journey Mapping

An Eskape customer (or user) journey map meticulously documents a customer's experience during their getaway. It is crafted based on our observations and interviews with the customer, outlining the various stages the customer traverses. This journey map is intricately linked to the focus of our project. By immersing themselves in this journey, Eskape gained empathy towards their users, endeavoring to understand firsthand what their customers undergo. It unearthed valuable insights, including comparing customer journeys to identify commonalities and pinpointing conflicting behaviors within a customer's journey.

Customer Profile:

The customer (Segment) Profile describes a specific customer segment in Eskape’s business model in a more structured and detailed way. It breaks the customer down into is jobs, pains, and gains.

1. Customer Jobs

The customer jobs outline the objectives that Eskape customers aim to accomplish during their getaway. These can encompass the tasks they endeavor to undertake or fulfill, as well as the needs they seek to meet while enjoying their escape.

Taking into account the three categories of customer jobs during their getaway:

a. Functional Jobs

When Eskape customers attempt to execute a particular task, such as traveling.

b. Social Jobs

When Eskape customers aim to enhance their appearance or acquire power and status. These tasks illustrate how customers desire to be viewed by others, whether it's appearing fashionable as a consumer or being perceived as competent in a professional capacity.

c. Personal/Emotional Jobs

When Eskape customers seek a particular emotional state, such as experiencing contentment or security, for instance, through activities like relaxation, seeking mental peace, or solitude.

Job Importance

It is essential to acknowledge that not all tasks are vital to Eskape customers. Some hold more significance in a customer’s getaway because failing to accomplish them could have serious consequences. Others are relatively insignificant because the customer prioritizes other aspects. At times, a customer may consider a task crucial because it occurs frequently or leads to a desired or undesired outcome.

2. Customer Pains

The customer pains describe anything that irritates Eskape customers before, during, and after attempting to complete a task (getaway). Pains also encompass risks, referring to potential adverse outcomes associated with performing a task poorly or not at all.

Taking into account the three categories of customer pains during their getaway:

a. Undesired outcomes, problems, and characteristics

Pains can be functional (e.g., a solution doesn’t work, doesn’t work well, or has adverse side effects), social (“I look bad doing this”), emotional (“I feel bad every time I do this”), or ancillary (“It’s annoying to go to the restaurant to have food”).

b. Obstacles

These are factors that hinder Eskape customers from initiating a task or slow them down, such as local regulations or transportation issues.

c. Risks (undesired potential outcomes)

What could potentially go wrong and result in significant negative consequences, such as regulatory risks, adverse experiences, or accidents.

Pain Severity

An Eskape customer's pain can range from extreme to moderate, similar to how jobs can vary in significance.

3. Customer Gains

The customer gains state the outcomes and benefits Eskape customers desire. Some gains are necessary, anticipated, or wished for by customers, while others may come as a surprise. These gains encompass functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.

Taking into account the four categories of customer gains during their getaway:

a. Required Gains

These gains are essential for a solution to be effective. For instance, the fundamental expectation customers have from a getaway is peace or open space.

b. Expected Gains

These are relatively fundamental gains that Eskape customers anticipate from a solution, even though it might function without them. For example, customers expect the getaway to be completely isolated.

c. Desired Gains

These gains surpass what customers typically anticipate from Eskape's solution but would greatly appreciate having if possible. These are usually gains that customers would suggest if asked by Eskape. For instance, customers desire their getaway to be exceptionally memorable.

d. Unexpected Gains

These gains exceed customer expectations and desires. Customers wouldn’t even consider them if Eskape were to ask.

Gain Relevance

A customer gain can be perceived as essential or merely nice to have, similar to how pains can be extreme or moderate for them.

Value Map:

The Value (Proposition) Map provides a structured and detailed overview of a specific value proposition within Eskape’s business model. It delineates Eskape’s value proposition into products and services, pain relievers, and gain creators.

1. Products and Services

This is essentially a catalog of what Eskape provides. It's an inventory of all the products and services upon which Eskape’s value proposition is built. These offerings assist Eskape’s customers in accomplishing functional, social, or emotional tasks, or in satisfying basic needs. It's important to recognize that products and services don’t create value independently; they do so in relation to a specific customer segment and their jobs, pains, and gains. Eskape's value proposition consists of various types of products and services.

Relevance

It is important to recognize that not all Eskape products and services hold the same significance for their customers. Some products and services are crucial to their value proposition, while others are merely considered nice to have.

2. Pain Relievers

Pain relievers describe precisely how Eskape's products and services alleviate customer pains. They explicitly outline our intentions to eliminate or reduce factors that irritate our customers before, during, or after they attempt to complete a job (getaway) or hinder them from doing so.

Relevance

A pain reliever can hold varying degrees of value for Eskape customers. Eskape distinguishes between essential pain relievers and those that are considered nice to have.

3. Gain Creators

Gain creators illustrate how Eskape's products and services generate customer gains. They explicitly outline how Eskape intends to deliver outcomes and benefits that customers anticipate, desire, or might find surprising, including functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.

Relevance

An Eskape gain creator can yield outcomes and benefits of varying relevance for their customers, similar to what we observed for pain relievers. Eskape distinguishes between essential gain creators and those that are considered nice to have.

FIT:

Checking the Eskape fit

The fit will be achieved when customers become excited about Eskape's value proposition, which occurs when they address important jobs, alleviate extreme pains, and create essential gains that customers care about. Achieving fit is difficult and requires ongoing effort. Striving for fit is the essence of value proposition design.

When Eskape designed the value proposition, it aimed to address some of the essential jobs, pains, and gains that potential customers have.

The Fit is achieved when the value map aligns with the customer profile: when Eskape's products and services produce pain relievers and gain creators that match the essential jobs, pains, and gains of their customers.

1. Eskape proposed Fit

After working on the customer profile, value map, and products and services, Eskape proposed its Fit, which compares the value map with the customer profile.

2. Eskape possible Fit

After working on the customer profile, value map, and products and services, Eskape proposed its Fit, which compares the value map with the customer profile.

Business Model Canvas:

Eskape embedded its value proposition in a viable business model to capture value for its organization. To achieve this, Eskape utilized the Business Model Canvas, a tool that describes how their organization creates, delivers, and captures value. The Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas are perfectly integrated. The latter serves as a plug-in to the former, allowing Eskape to delve into the details of how they are creating value for customers.

Business Model Environment:

The Business Model Environment is organized into four areas: Market Forces, Key Trends, Industry Forces, and Macro-Economic Trends. These areas surround the Business Model Canvas as they influence the type of business model designed for Eskape.

The primary research helped to understand the customer segment of Eskape. Many insights were gained from user studies and customer journey mapping, which aided in defining Eskape’s customer profile. The study of customer jobs, pains, and gains in a getaway helped to structure the customer profile. The detailed examination of products and services, pain relievers, and gain creators assisted in creating a value map for Eskape’s customers. The value map and the customer profile provided a concrete idea to assess Eskape’s business Fit. The business model canvas and the business model environment helped Eskape structure its business and operations.

Cabin Architecture

Any concept generation requires some good inspiration. A few inspiring aspects from various domains are selectively considered to create the best wilderness cabin experience. These are all carefully curated for this purpose.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but mood boards tell us the story. Visual concepts offer an unlimited source of inspiration that not only captures the aesthetic of our project or renovation but also creates an idea about how we want to feel in the finished space.

These mood boards allowed us to understand and creatively communicate through visualization. Whether we were consulting with interior designers or builders, the easiest way to achieve our vision was by bridging the gap between expressing the ideas and actualizing them.

Building on external inspiration and our thoughts and feelings about a particular space enabled Eskape to navigate the tone and exact direction the team wished to go in, developing a visual world in which our project would reside.

The cabin is not just about aesthetics; it also incorporates structural and functional aspects. In other words, the physical architecture includes the occupant packaging, the amenities, their design, the structural elements such as build and strength, and most importantly, ergonomics.

At the end of the day, the fabricator or the one who will build this cabin requires the architectural layout and plan. It is akin to the text for the story in your mind; it is very much necessary. Additionally, it will aid in translating the story into something tangible.

In this section, we explored various architectural aspects of the cabin.

Cabin Components Requirements
Cabin User Needs
Cabin Customer Experiences
Cabin Components Specification
Cabin Service Design

Cabin Design and Developpment

This is the critical stage where the final concept is transformed into a tangible prototype, serving as a master for production. Here, we will be working on the floor plans, elevations, 3D models, mock-ups, and cabin prototypes. We have used SketchUp and AutoCAD for the design purposes.

Cabin Model Iterations
Final Cabin Model
Cabin Prototype
Working Cabin

For further details regarding this project, please feel free to reach out to me.